Improvement in paddle-wheels



, roller c turns.

. clearly shown in Fig. l.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orifice.

E. J. MCCARTIIY, OF SAUGERTIES, NEIV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN PADDLE-WH EELS.

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 5,405, dated December2S, 1847.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, E. J. MCCARTHY, of Saugerties, in the county ofUlster and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Paddle-Vheels for Steamboats and other Purposes; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe principle or character which distinguishes them from all otherthings before known and of the manner of making, constructing, and usingthe same, rel"- erence being had to the accompanying drawings, makingpart of this specification, in which- Y Figurel is a side elevation, andFig. 2 a front View, of the wheel.

The same letters indicate like parts in both the gures.

The nature of my invention consists in so regulating the movement of abucket relatively to the wheel as that it shall enter the waterradially, or nearly so, and as it rises from the water allowing itspoint to fall back, so as to relieve it from the lift the common radialpaddle is subject to at that point, the action being produced withoutany strain on the parts that allow the movement.

The construction is as follows: Each of the arms a of the wheel is madewith a groove on each side of it, in which a bar b rests and slides. Theinner end of said bar has a stud projecting from it, on which afriction- This roller rims in a groove d. (Shown in the drawings by redlilies, and which will be more particularly alluded to in thedescription of the operation of the wheel.) The lower end of said bar isconnected by a stud e with a movable brace f, to which the paddle isattached, said brace being jointed to the endet the arm about itscenter. The outer end of the brace has the paddle-board g afixed to it,and above where it is jointed to the arm it is bent backward a little,as is On the end of the brace opposite the paddle-board an elongatedslit h is made diagonally across the arm, in

.which the stud eworks as the bar b slides in and out. By thisarrangement it will be brought into a radial position, and when said baris thrust outward it causes the paddle to incline backward.

The operation of the wheel is as follows: The paddle descends towardt-he water in the revolution in a position inclining backward, asrepresented at A, Fig. 1,till it arrives near the water. The bar Z) isthen drawn in by an eccentric n in the groove, which is shown in redlinesin Fig. l, as previously alluded to. By drawing in the barb thepaddle is straightened out to a radial line, as shown at B, Fig. l, inwhich position it enters the 'water and passes through it until the armarrives at a vertical position. As soon as it passes that line the baris gradually thrust out by the groove above referred to, aided by theaction on the paddle, which is thus again brought into the inclinedposition first described, and thence vit moves round in the samerelative position to the arm till it is again brought to enter thewater. This construction and arrangement oi' parts, it will be seen,relieves the groove and connections of all strain, the paddle beingforced back by the water and impelled forward in a degree by its ownweight.

Having thus fully described my improvement, I wish. it to be understoodthatI do not claim movable paddles, as they have before been made andworked in many different ways; but

That I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The construction and arrangement of the apparatus for moving thepaddles, substantially as described, consisting of a sliding bar b,moved by an eccentric that is connected by means of a stud e with a slitin jointed brace f, to which the paddle is affixed, so as to cause thepaddles to enter the water radially and thus remain to the center oftheir action and then to fall back into an inclined position and leavethe water freely, the action of the paddle aiding the change.

E. J. MCCAR'III Y.

Witnesses:

J. H. THAYER, J. J. GREENOUGH.

